Police investigate an early-morning shooting death of a person at a house on 67A Avenue and 132nd Street in Surrey, BC Saturday, December 24, 2011. Bradley McPherson was identified as the victim.Jason Payne
/ PNG

Police investigate an early-morning shooting death of a person at a house on 67A Avenue and 132nd Street in Surrey, BC Saturday, December 24, 2011Jason Payne
/ PNG

Police investigate an early-morning shooting death of a person at a house on 67A Avenue and 132nd Street in Surrey, BC Saturday, December 24, 2011Jason Payne
/ PNG

Police investigate an early-morning shooting death of a person at a house on 67A Avenue and 132nd Street in Surrey, BC Saturday, December 24, 2011Jason Payne
/ PNG

Police investigate an early-morning shooting death of a person at a house on 67A Avenue and 132nd Street in Surrey, BC Saturday, December 24, 2011.Jason Payne
/ PNG

Police investigate an early-morning shooting death of a person at a house on 67A Avenue and 132nd Street in Surrey, BC Saturday, December 24, 2011Jason Payne
/ PNG

METRO VANCOUVER — Four murders in four days does not mean a return to a deadly Vancouver-area gang war that has claimed dozens of lives, the head of the regional homicide squad said Tuesday.

Supt. Dan Malo, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said none of the recent slayings in the Vancouver suburbs of Surrey and Langley is linked nor are any of the four connected to gangs and organized crime.

And Malo said IHIT has ample resources to deal with the rash of fatal shootings with more than 100 officers at his disposal even over the holiday season.

Malo arrived at the scene of the latest murder, in Surrey, Tuesday afternoon to reassure the public not to be afraid.

"This isn't a trend. This isn't what we saw in 2008 and 2009," Malo said. "This isn't gangs out shooting each other, which we did see. It just happens that these four happened over a period of four days and I think it was important for me to get that message out to the public."

As he spoke, the body of a young man, shot to death early Tuesday, remained under a tarp half a block away behind police tape and surrounded by marked RCMP cruisers. While area residents told investigators they heard shots fired about 7:30 a.m., no one called police for an hour.

And less than 10 hours earlier, a 38-year-old man was shot to death in the driveway of an upscale home in Langley.

In both cases, distressed neighbours told the Vancouver Sun they were concerned about gun violence so close to home.

On Christmas Eve, 28-year-old Bradley McPherson was critically wounded by gunfire at a Surrey house party. He died later in hospital. On Christmas Day, store clerk Alok Gupta was shot to death as he filled in for the owners at Ken's Grocery in Surrey.

Of the four cases, Malo described only Gupta as "a true innocent victim," suggesting the others may have been specifically targeted by their killers.

Neither McPherson nor the Langley victim had any criminal record and no information was provided about the history of Tuesday's murder.

Malo said investigators are currently working up the histories of each victim by talking to relatives, friends and associates, as well as checking social media sites, so they can determine what lead up to the shootings.

In some cases, disputes that are only seconds long can lead to murders, he noted.

"There are leads in more than one of these investigations but we are pretty early to talk about those sorts of things," said Malo.

He said these four cases could easily have been spread out over the year, but simply occurred so close together by coincidence.

The number of murders in IHIT's jurisdiction has been down in 2011 to 31 from 38 last year.

While Malo said he didn't have precise figures, of the number of 2011 murders in which charges have so far been laid, the clearance rate was just under 40 per cent.

IHIT includes Lower Mainland RCMP detachments from Chilliwack to Squamish, as well as Abbotsford and New Westminster municipal police. Vancouver, Delta, Port Moody and West Vancouver investigate their own homicides.

When murders come in waves, IHIT responds by sending out separate teams for each file, Malo explained.

"IHIT is designed for this," he said. "People hear the bell and they respond very quickly. I purposely came in today to listen to the four briefings of all four investigations. I am satisfied on my experience that it is well-resourced. We work hand in glove with the detachments. These investigations are very fluid as you well imagine and we continue to investigate all four of them. But resourcing is not an issue for us. Our people will work day and night and progress these investigations to the level that they need to be."

And Malo said he has been getting calls from other jurisdictions — both RCMP and municipal police — offering up resources if needed.

"The advantage of the integrated policing model is that we are always prepared to deploy the collective resources of multiple police agencies and work in co-operation with the police of (the) jurisdiction to ensure a timely and effective police response," he said. "While the initial crime scene is specific to one municipality, it is frequently the case that suspects, witnesses and evidence are scattered across multiple jurisdictions; with the IHIT integrated model we take advantage of resources from the entire region to conduct the most effective investigation possible."

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